Generals Docherty and Wilson arrive on Hart Island to visit a military base. They encounter mercenaries working for Ningen, a Private Military Contractor that the American government had hired to guard the base, and they note that the mercenaries are disposing capsules of biological waste even though they had been ordered not to do that yet. The officers demand to see someone called ‘the Asset,’ but a senior Ningen mercenary named Burke gets orders from a mysterious woman over his radio. He then orders his troops to shoot the officers. Docherty is killed instantly, and when Wilson manages to flee and hide behind a tombstone, the woman who gave Burke his orders appears and shoots him. She then orders a total lockdown of the island and also has her troops get the biological waste capsules ready for a mission.
Penelope and USA GI enter a submarine while they’re briefed on the situation. A military officer tells them that the ‘Asset’, whose true codename is Apex Moth, is a biological weapons developer who is also the leader of the terrorist cell Cryptiq. The American government captured him many years ago and tasked him with creating more radiation-enhanced animals like USA GI; for security, they also hired Ningen to act as guards. However, Apex Moth bribed Ningen’s owner Kanina Lovacova with Cryptiq’s hidden bank accounts, and she has defected to his side. Kanina, codenamed “Hare Trigger”, is an Olympic-level sharpshooter and extremely dangerous on her own; her troops are also top-grade.
USA GI is put out to see that Kanina is wearing rabbit furs in a photo. The military officer explains that she’s actually wearing the fur of jackalopes, which were created when hares were irradiated during nuclear tests in the 1940s; Kanina hunted them down herself in order to make her outfit. The officer goes on to note that the government caught Ningen disposing of biological waste at non-scheduled times; unfortunately, Apex Moth realized that the government was on to him, so he had Ningen seize control of the island and sent a video message to the government. The officer plays the message, which features Apex Moth (with Kanina standing by him) demanding the government let him escape the island by submarine. He also notes that he’s developed and sold several powerful cryptids to villainous groups and governments while in American custody, including the massive worm-like fish known as the minhocao
, the Mokele-Mbembe, and the Tatzelwurm already fought by USA GI. He finishes by saying he’s turned some coyotes into vicious chupacabras and he’ll use the capsules to launch those monsters into City Island if he’s not allowed to flee.
USA GI is ordered to infiltrate the island, destroy the biological weapons, stop anyone from escaping, and capture or kill Apex Moth. He’ll be going along with Black Hops, his support team which had also functioned as his replacement in his absence. The team includes a cybernetic tortoise called Rigor-Tortoise; he has no enhanced intelligence but has been given neural network implants, computer chips, and weapons for his armor. It also includes an otter named Patriot-R who was irradiated in the Fukushima meltdown, developed similar abilities to USA GI, and was also given rigorous training until he too became an elite soldier. Patriot-R is surly, but the officer insists the team will be able to function as a single unit.
Burke tells Kanina that his team has detected the Navy ship and notes that it’s holding its position a couple miles from Hart Island. His team misses seeing USA GI, Rigor-Tortoise, and Patriot-R hiding in a trash crate which drifts ashore. Once they get there, they all split up for their objectives; Patriot-R dives back into the water and begins looking for a sewer entrance to the facility, Rigor-Tortoise begins walking towards a hilltop, and USA GI makes a run for the base.
USA GI slaughters several Ningen troops and then uses a secret entrance to get into the base proper. He eventually runs into Apex Moth and Kanina, the latter of whom pins him down with a series of rapid and accurate pistol shots. Apex Moth boasts that USA GI is the reason he founded Cryptiq and made it such a success; he was originally recruited to reproduce the conditions which created the hare, but was injured in a lab accident and subsequently decided to provide weaponized cryptids to all the military forces in the world instead of just to America.
Apex Moth demonstrates the ability to speak the animal language which USA GI uses to communicate with other animals. He then leaves for the submarine he plans to use to escape, giving an order as he goes to launch the chupacabra capsules. He has Kanina cover his exit, which includes capturing USA GI, but USA GI kicks a big piece of debris into her and is able to knock her down for long enough to get away. He flees and kills soldiers as he goes while Kanina gives chase, managing to injure him with a grenade but failing to stop him.
Ningen troops hear that Apex Moth successfully escaped and prepare to launch the capsules. USA GI attempts to stop them but is pinned down by Kanina; fortunately for him, Rigor-Tortoise reaches the top of his hill and shoots missiles from his shell. The capsules are mostly destroyed (though one successfully launches), and the troops are all killed by the missiles; Kanina survives but loses a hand when a sharp piece of metal debris rockets towards her and cuts through her wrist. She flees as the flaming debris sets the whole area on fire, trapping USA GI.
At the same time, Patriot-R makes it into the base and kills all the soldiers preparing Apex Moth’s submarine. He has hands (unlike USA GI and Rigor-Tortoise) and is able to use small arms with exceptional proficiency, which he shows by executing one of the mercenaries with a perfect shot. He’s then surprised by Apex Moth. Patriot-R shoots the terrorist leader but his bullet glances off Apex Moth’s bulletproof helmet. The two get into a brutal fight, with Apex Moth calling Patriot-R a “freak of nature,” but even after giving the otter a heavy beatdown, Patriot-R is still standing.
Apex Moth calls upon the Tatzelwurm, which had been returned to him by the North Koreans after its loss to USA GI, and the Tatzelwurm attacks Patriot-R as Apex Moth flees in his submarine. Patriot-R runs too and gets into the open water; at that point, Apex Moth’s submarine leaves and the Tatzelwurm chases after it. Rigor-Tortoise destroys the capsule launch site at about this time and Patriot-R rushes over; he first grabs Rigor-Tortoise, then finds USA GI trapped by flames and hauls him to safety.
The sole surviving capsule makes it to City Island and Penelope, citing her experience shooting coyotes who threatened her ranch, volunteers to pursue it. She grabs a gun, jumps on a jet ski, and makes it to the island in time to see the capsule’s chupacabra eating a dog. Leery of spooking the chupacabra and thus sending it into hiding, she slashes one thigh so she’s bleeding slightly and then acts as if she’s been badly wounded. The chupacabra hears her yells, smells her blood, and comes over to eat her.
Penelope draws a bead on the chupacabra but it spits acid and knocks the gun from her hand. She gives chase, dives, and manages to grab it just as the chupacabra bears down on her. She then swivels around... just in time to see the chupacabra get hit and killed by a truck.
The Navy is able to recapture the island and arrest the remaining Ningen operatives, though both Kanina and Apex Moth escaped and have started to rebuild Cryptiq elsewhere. As a result, Black Hops is assigned to remain on active duty — including USA GI and also Penelope— until Cryptiq is neutralized for good.
This comic contains examples of the following tropes:
- An Arm and a Leg: Kanina loses her hand when she’s hit by debris from the capsule launch platform.
- Badass Normal: Despite having no powers or military training, Penelope is able to put up a decent fight against a chupacabra.
- Doctor von Turncoat: Apex Moth is a terrorist who was captured and made to work for the American government. It didn’t take.
- Our Cryptids Are More Mysterious: Several cryptids are shown, most notably the chupacabra that Penelope has to fight and the Tatzelwurm which battles Patriot-R.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Patriot-R is surly and doesn’t like USA GI, but he still works with the hare and saves him in the end because that’s what professionals do.
